The present invention relates to cylindrical array radiators, and more particularly to a cylindrical array radiator with staggered vertical staves.
There are two conventional techniques for reducing the undesirable vertical side lobes created by unphased cylindrical arrays. The first method is to baffle the array in the vertical direction. In many applications the baffle is limited in size, and thus effectiveness, due to installation requirements. Often the acoustic properties of the baffle depend on pressure, thereby limiting the general usefulness of this technique for underwater acoustic arrays.
Cylindrical arrays are often constructed by placing vertical staves on the face of a cylinder. The second conventional techniques of reducing undesirable vertical side lobes is to design each stave to have very low vertical side lobe levels. In many applications this technique involves relatively complicated design of the individual staves and adds to the complexity of the associated electrical wiring. This problem is compounded by the fact that the vertical side lobe levels of the entire array are generally significantly higher than the vertical side lobe levels of each individual stave. This causes a vertical side lobe level of the entire array which is greater than the vertical side lobe level of an individual stave.
The major disadvantage of both techniques is that they add to the size and complexity of the cylindrical array radiator.